Answering calls for service
Battle Creek, Mich., has begun using Web-based software to provide its employees with the information they need to quickly respond to residents’ calls. The software gives employees access to answers of easily answered questions, and it allows them to submit requests for service on residents’ behalf. As a result of using the software, city employees in any department can answer most residents’ questions without passing them to another department, and the city is improving the accountability of the services it provides.
The Battle Creek City Council began looking for ways to improve the city’s customer service in March 2002 based on the results of an annual survey that showed that residents were dramatically less satisfied with the customer service they received than they had been in previous years. The city evaluated how it provided customer service, and it found that each department had its own method for answering residents’ questions and responding to service requests. Residents who contacted different departments did not receive uniform responses, and some departments used software to track service requests while other departments did not. “We had a variety of tracking systems, and we felt it was important to put them all in one,” says Dan Ryan, chief information officer for the city.
In August 2002, the city issued a request for proposals for software that would help improve customer service by providing a clearinghouse of information for all departments, as well as manage service requests and track responses to those requests. The city wanted software that employees could access through their Web browsers, that would work with the city’s e-mail and calendar software, Lotus Notes, and that would reside on the city’s AS/400 server by White Plains, N.Y.-based IBM.
Battle Creek chose to purchase Suite-Response software from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada-based Knexa Solutions in November, but because of budget issues, the city put the project on hold. Meanwhile, the city began making other improvements to its customer service, such as asking all employees to answer the phone with the same greeting.
In June 2003, the city purchased the software, and, by September, the Code Compliance Department, Building Inspection Department and City Manager’s Office were using it. The information available through the software was culled from existing documents and departmental Web pages. Additionally, each department submitted a list of its top 10 most-asked questions and their answers.
Employees can search or browse for answers to questions posed by residents. For fast access to popular questions, the software puts the most frequently asked questions of the day and week in the center of employees’ browser windows, and employees can access links to all departments and services on the left side. News items, such as road closings, scroll across the top of the screen, making staff aware of events as they happen. As a result, all employees have access to the same information about city services and can provide uniform responses to residents. “If a person in another department is answering a question about potholes, we want to make sure she’s not over-promising another department’s capacity,” Ryan says. “She’s giving the response the resident would get if they talked to someone in public works.”
The software also allows employees to submit service requests on behalf of residents. In March, the city plans to allow residents to submit their requests through the city Web site and track the city’s responses online.
City officials can use the software to generate reports about how quickly the city is responding to requests and which types of issues occur most frequently. Using the software, officials can see if there are any recurring issues, such as a traffic light that malfunctions frequently. “Previously, we might respond to that issue and throw [the information about it] in a file drawer,” Ryan says. “Only if somebody thought, ‘That’s the third time in three months that that bulb has gone out,’ would that maybe be looked at. Maybe it’s more than the bulb that’s going out; maybe the whole signal is bad.”
Currently, six more departments are beginning to use the software, and the city plans to have all departments using it by May. “[The software] gives us the ability to measure goals and responses,” Ryan says. “It ultimately will demonstrate that we are responsive to the community.”